Pews News

Churches Called on to Ask Members to Sign Creation Care Voter PledgeOctober 18, 2018

The Environmental Ministries Team of the Massachusetts Conference, UCC is calling on congregations to ask their members to sign the Creation Care Voter Pledge.

Here’s Why and HowThe UCC declares that God’s great gift of Creation – the context in which all life seeks fulfillment – is in crisis. As people of faith, recognizing that the earth is the Lord’s, it falls upon our generation to embrace imperatives that constitute a new moral era. The UCC views the current climate crisis as an opportunity for which the church was born.

But voting data consistently shows that people concerned about the environment and the climate do not vote nearly as often as the general populace. “In the 2016 presidential election, about 68 or 69 percent of registered voters turned out to vote. The problem is only 50 percent of environmentalists turned out to vote. In the 2014 midterms, only 21 percent of environmentalists voted”.

What Can You Do About This?Ask the members of your congregation to sign the Creation Care Voter Pledge. It costs nothing, but when someone makes the pledge the likelihood significantly increases that the person will actually show up and vote. Each person who pledges will get an email on election day reminding them of their pledge. (And a thank you note after the election is over.) This small pledge “contract” has great effect.

There are many ways to invite your congregation to take the pledge. Several are listed below and you can make up your own approaches and use several approaches at the same time! But time is very short, so act now. Affecting the mid-term elections is a moral imperative for all of us.

Approaches for Obtaining Creation Care Voter Pledges:

Put pledge slips in the pews and ask people to fill them out and put them in the collection plate. Here is a pledge form.

Arrange to have one or more members bring their laptops to church, and during the service describe the pledge and invite people to see one of the pledge takers during coffee hour.

Present the pledge in a newsletter or bulletin that goes to all members of your congregation, and include the link so people can make the pledge online on their own. Here is a textdocument that you can copy into a newsletter.

Even better, make a special mailing or emailing to members about the pledge – nothing is more important in the next few weeks with respect to the future of God’s creation than getting your members to vote.

​The pledges need to be typed into an online pledge form found here. If you cannot arrange to have this done, please contact Karen Methot for help. Do not mail them to Rev. Brooks Berndt in Ohio – there is not enough time for processing before Nov. 6th!

Why is your pledge important?

Those who care about the environment do not vote as often as they should. When you make your pledge online you are sending a loud message that you are going to start voting your values.

We’ll send you reminders to help you show up to every election. Studies have shown that these simple, free reminders can help you be a much more consistent voter.

Are you already a perfect voter? Please make the pledge anyway! The more people who pledge to vote, the easier it is to convince others to join you!

As critical as the mid-term election is, your vote has important impact in the future beyond this election. Who voted is a matter of public record. Politicians know this. They won’t pay attention to constituents who they know have not voted. When you vote, you declare that you’re likely to vote again in the future, which increases the chances of future candidates paying attention to your opinions and priorities. “The people who never miss an election, they drive policy in this country”.

The Environmental Ministries Team of the Massachusetts Conference, UCC

The story of Noah is a favourite of many. We love the idea of Noah saving all those doomed animals. Well, we need a bunch of Noah's to sign on as Creation Care voters.

The World Wildlife Foundation's biennial "Living Planet Report" is not only disheartening for what it reveals about our stewardship of God's good creation, it speaks of a real danger to human survival. The link to the report is below. Please read this information and then consider signing-on as a "Creation Care Voter."​"Exploding human consumption" has caused a massive drop in global wildlife populations in recent decades, the WWF conservation group says.In a report, the charity says losses in vertebrate species - mammals, fish, birds, amphibians and reptiles - averaged 60% between 1970 and 2014."Earth is losing biodiversity at a rate seen only during mass extinctions," the WWF's Living Planet Report adds.It urges policy makers to set new targets for sustainable development.